Starting in 2005 when returning from SXSWi a coworker and I would put together a trends presentation talking about up-and-coming technologies, patterns, websites, etc... and 2008 is no different. The presentations keep getting longer and longer, as innovation keeps building on the previous year, moving faster and faster. This year ...

As a Designer, I sometimes need to evaluate different technologies and platforms from a Designer's perspective. Why is it important to get a Designer's view? As Designers we can quickly be boxed in with inflexible UI layers, unusable sets of standard patterns, and the inability to create a great experience. ...

If you're an Interaction Designer, I'm sure you've noticed a new design pattern in the past year - one that doesn't really seem to have a proper name yet. In fact, you're probably already incorporating this pattern into your designs. It seems like almost every major redesign is leveraging ...

Awhile back (also known as 2 months ago) Stephen posted about his bookstack. What he was reading, referencing and scanning. He tagged me to share my bookstack, and I was embarrassed with my lack of current books. But, with Christmas here, I actually have a couple of non-digital things in ...

Yesterday I got to hear John Maeda speak at Sabre as part of the Wundermind series of speakers. I've read John's book (The Laws of Simplicity), and really enjoyed it. He gave a great presentation - it's rare to hear someone who really gets both technology and design (and he's ...

When creating an online desktop experience, as Designers we want to choose the most interactive medium possible - then weigh that with the audience we're designing for and make a decision. XHTML/AJAX? Adobe AIR? MS Silverlight? With each of these options we can create a highly interactive experience, with real-time ...

Awhile back I posted my "Universe of User Experience", where I wanted to show all the pieces that needed to come together to create a great experience. This was very helpful in educating people on what User Experience was and why all the pieces were necessary. But this did not ...

SXSWi has come and gone again, this was my fourth time to attend and it just keeps getting bigger every year. When I first visited in 2003 (or was it 2002?) Bruce Sterling was still throwing SXSWi parties at his home and FROG Design hosted everyone in their office, ...

Are you going to Austin this weekend for SXSWi? Or maybe you're heading for Austin to attend the new Apple Store opening? Either way, I'll be around. Visiting all the great independent shops and restaurants Austin has to offer, as well as attending SXSWi for the fourth time. Interested ...

Even if you're not a comic collector and could never pass for "comic book guy" on the Simpsons, that doesn't mean you don't read comics. How about how-tos in home improvement books? Instruction manuals for various electronics, or even the calm as a "hindu-cow" passengers showing you how to evacuate ...

I know we probably don't need another post describing the chasm between Marketing and Design, but here we go ;-) In recent years I've seen Marketing destroy good experiences for political reasons, timelines, advertising, and turf-wars. Of course these are the things that bother us Designers most. We want ...

In web design there are a couple things that are for the most part consistent across sites to provide a more uniform experience. Things like most logos tend to be on the top left of a page (as well as link to the homepage) and the search goes somewhere ...

Over the past couple of months I've seen some new user interface ideas on some popular websites. Some were improvements, others a bit awkward to use. I've collected screenshots of these new UI elements and talked a bit about each of them below.

Here at geniant we've been discussing a re-branding of our corporate identity. We've already gone through a series of branding exercises: colors, fonts, photos, and words to describe the "ideal geniant". Recently we've been moving into the visual aspects of branding and while putting together a presentation to present some of ...

While Microsoft and Sony both iterate on proven designs for traditional video game systems, Nintendo (which has been loosing ground in recent years) decided to innovate. Some say it's a gamble, but Nintendo needed to do something - or it was going to be left behind by hard core ...